Much Deserved Vacation

We will be travelling for the next few weeks and spending time with some good friends and our daughter that has been working for them for the summer. My posts may be sporadic while we are away, but I do plan to post!  Yay, for wifi in foreign countries!!

My friends own a husky farm in Lapland in Northern Finland called Hetta Huskies. You should check them out. They raise the dogs with love and compassion for the tourist industry and also provide husky safaris from their farm in the Winter months. Winter in Lapland is October - May.

Good bye for now from the Pacific Northwest. Next stop Arctic Circle.

New Girls in the 'Hood

At the end of February Thelma and Louise joined the ranks at the convent:

There were some mishaps with the fact that Louise was actually a Louis issue, but we got it all resolved. Naomi (of Naomi's Organic Farm Supply) let me switch out Louis. Thank you Naomi!!

The girls have grown up and have integrated fairly seamlessly into the flock...well I did say fairly...you can see Ebony is keeping a close eye on the little girls:

Here they are a couple weeks ago:

Getting their fair share of the weed treats.

They should be laying by the end of this month!

Testing testing 1 2 3 - Artichokes

I am testing the blogger mobile app to see how this can work while The Hubs and I travel around Scandinavia later this summer.  Here goes:

So this lovely lady has appeared. I harvested two little artichokes from this plant... But left the largest a bit too long so I am letting it flower. Artichoke flowers are huge and beautiful. 

Homesteading Goals for 2013

The world has not ended and the zombies did not invade and 2013 is here, therefore we will list our homestead project goals again this year. This remains a list of things I am very interested in doing, but is also a list that gives and takes with all the ups and downs of the years coming events. Our oldest graduates from high school and starts college this year and the Hubs and I are actually going on VACATION this summer so I anticipate less accomplishments.


Our goals from last year:

1. Build a top bar hive and get some bees!  Did not happen last year, the financial investment for a new hive was too much and I did not get organized enough to jump on the swarm list action.
2. Build a new roof for the chicken coop. CHECK! We replaced our little plastic roof with a nice metal corrugated roof complete with gutter and rain chain!
3. Start an herb garden in the front yard.  Well, not in the front yard, but I did start one in the back!
4. Make more wine.  Did not get around to it, but we made cider!
5. Make more cider. CHECK! 
6. Expand our water collection system. I am re-thinking the entire system and its location, so this was postponed.
7. Build a root cellar.  This is a much bigger project than anticipated, and the Hubs and I are still trying to decide how to allocate the basement.
8. Learn to make mead. Well, I did learn to make it, just haven't made it myself yet..need the bees!
9. Grow some artichokes. CHECK! 
10. Use the pressure canner.  Turns out I did not have much to pressure can this year, so I ended up freezing our green beans instead.

Hmmm.... so 4 out 10 is not too bad..... is it? I did accomplish some things that were not even included on this list.

• We built and planted a hugelkultur bed, and it was very much a success after I figured out how to keep the chooks out of it again and again!
• We grew three watermelons!  Okay, they were less than 3" in diameter and I ended up feeding them to the chickens...but I grew them!
• I planted a new pear and an Italian plum tree, and kept them watered through the summer and they survived, even grew three pears!

Pollo Loco 2013 Homesteading Goals:

1. Build a permanent chicken run.
2. Add two more hugelkulter beds.
3. Layout a planting plan utilizing companion planting and actually follow it this year (this is started!).
4. Build and use a cider press (with our friend that has a farm with apple trees).
5. Intermingle more herbs and beneficial flowers into the veggie beds.

Pollo Loco circa 2012 - "Before"

This is a good before photo of the homestead, note the sticks and plastic fencing for the chicken run. Stay tuned to see the transformation!

Out with 2012 - Results

Harvest season this year really took it all out of me. Between preserving the harvest, Fall high school Volleyball and Cross Country and the holiday's the time flew by, and I find myself here on New Year's Eve realizing I have not posted in three months!

Despite the flea beetle fiasco, I did manage to can 67 pounds of tomato's into Jars of Joy, plum salsa, regular salsa and ketchup. With my bumper crop of cucumbers (45 pounds) I attempted some spicy pickles and some lemon pickles, despite my dislike of anything fermented. We were lucky enough to have two large boxes of plums sent our way from a couple of local backyards; these were made into salsa and jam and the rest dried for snacking. My Aunt's friend supplied us with well over 30 pounds of fresh Dungeness crab, most of which is long gone and thoroughly enjoyed freshly cooked and dipped in butter, the way nature intended.  The rest we have frozen to add to chowder soon.

This last year I resolved to track the results of our efforts here at Pollo Loco Homestead and my mission was accomplished!
Below are the results of our labors for 2012:

Harvested produce- 345 lbs.
Total eggs - 961 (80 dozen)
Total meat - 38 lbs. (rooster and Dungeness crab)

Savings - $1,511.03
Expenditures - $655.01
Total savings - $856.02

Since adding to the flock in Fall 2011 (for a total of 8 hens currently), our egg production was way up this year, with a peak of 144 eggs in the month of July. We only had a barren couple of weeks this year at the beginning of December.  Now that the solstice has passed, the young girls have already started laying again!

Tracking the production of the garden and chickens proves to me that the effort is definitely worth it, time well spent to feed my family gourmet, organically grown fruit and veggies.

Happy a happy and safe New Year!

Winter wonderland in Sunriver, Oregon

Friday Farm - Beans Beans the Magical Fruit

Bowl full of things Pollo Loco has in abundance.

This lovely fiberglass bowl used to be my grandmother's. It has a collection of smaller bowls that match.  We used to eat popcorn out of them! They are a prized possession, I love them very much.

The Squash That Took Over the Homestead

I let a few volunteer squash grow to see what I would get this year. The little things that bring extra excitement in the garden... surprise squash. Squash cross pollinate really easily, so saving seed from squash is kind of a crap shoot in itself....and the volunteers from compost are a roll of the dice. It is fun to see what you get.

As you can see, squash tends to attempt world dominance. Since we will not be mowing again for a while I allow it to take over the grassy areas. We do not water our lawn areas in the summer, we allow the grass to turn brown and go dormant until the rains return. What you see here is actually only from two plants, one growing from each end of the Hugelkultur bed.

(The white sheets are old curtains that the chickens are using as shade in this hot weather.)

This acorn squash and two of its cousins were harvested from one of them this week. There are a few more yet to ripen on the vines. The acorns seem pretty true to their original kin.

The intentional squash is planted within the garden and is doing its own support of the world takeover. The winter squash (Sibley) and the summer squash (yellow patty pan and zucchini) are on either side of the cucumber trellis.

The coop is disappearing behind the tomatoes and squash.

Lowering our footprint a bit more

We do not drink soda on a regular basis.  Occasionally some finds its way into our refrigerator-- most likely for use in making cocktails or if the kids have begged for it on a day where I give in to their never ending sugar intake desire. The latter being a rarer occasion than cocktails (I know, poor children).

The part of soda that appeals to The Hubs and I is the carbonation. We are very frequent buyers of plastic liter and half liter bottles of sparkling water and by doing so are probably negating many of the other things we do to reduce our carbon footprint. It is (or was) a conundrum.

Sometimes life just offers up coincidences and parallel trains of thought that coalesce into life changing events. If you can consider a sparkling water maker a life changing event. We drink a lot of the stuff, so for us it is a life changing event. In the past few weeks I learned a friend and colleague and fellow sustainable life enthusiast of mine has had a soda maker since last Christmas and LOVES it.  She is a daily carbonated water drinker and after over 6 months is only now replacing the first CO2 cartridge....and she pointed out that the cartridges have to be returned and exchanged for refills. That was about the tipping point for me, because as you can imagine that issue is what I was most worried about...that the cartridges were disposable.  They can be re-used!  Joy!

Then, last weekend our friend with the farm brought his Sodastream out to the farm fiesta and we learned how easy it was to make sparkling water. It takes less than a minute to make a fresh bottle of it! AND--it does not use electricity!  Seriously.  Can this magic machine get any better?

We are now the proud owners of a Sodastream Genesis. Apparently there are models available that use glass bottles and that would be ideal, but none of the stores near us carried them, and the machines were twice the cost. The Genesis uses special plastic bottles with screw lids that seal in the carbonation for days.

This little guy will pay for itself within a year!

Watermelon Update

The coldframe watermelon experiment is moving along nicely. There are four, little three inch diameter melons growing and growing on the vines resting on the warm concrete.

The coldframe has been open for the last week or so, the weather has been so warm here, in the 80's and 90's. I have been trying to keep it watered regularly as the watermelons regular watering.

Some tips I found from OSU Extension for growing watermelons in the Pacific Northwest.

Slow Postings and Tractor Driving

Sorry for the lack of posts y'all, this summer is getting away from me!  I am sure some of you feel the same. The garden is going crazy, the kids are off to camp, back from camp, off again...and we have so many jobs under construction this summer that my work days are as hectic as my "free" time.

AND, to top it all off...or I guess, to kick off the last month of my 30's, I am throwing myself a party at a friends farm this weekend! This was the only weekend this month that we could work it into the summer schedule.  It also happens to be the same weekend that a local music festival happens, called Pickathon.

These canopies are hovering over the main stage and can be seen about 100 yards across the field from my friends farm:

Pickathon Main Stage

The farm is located less than 20 minutes from our house.  Thanks to (or because of) Portland's Urban Growth Boundary, we can drive 15 minutes in most directions and find farmland. They grow apple, pear, cherry and fliberts, grapes and blueberries. It has a little red barn and last weekend the kids went with us to help do some set up for the party.

Then our friend Greg, the same one that taught us how to process our rooster, showed the girls and The Hubs how to drive his old '69 tractor.

They had a blast.

Have a good weekend, I will post more next week!!!!

Broccoli and the Super Garden

We returned from camping last weekend and it was as if my garden had suddenly come alive! Everything had literally grown two feet!

Cucumbers (lemon, straight 8's and a pickling variety).

I may have gone overboard with the amount of plants, we will see.

The tomato's are finally kicking it in gear and surviving their flea beetle infestation.

There are even blooms!

The pole beans are making their way up the bamboo:

They are definitely a bit crowded, but so far do not seem to mind.

The hugelkultur is becoming a bit overwhelmed by the volunteer squash so I keep trimming back the squash and redirecting their vines. Do any of you know what that feathery tree like looking plant is in the middle of the photo? I do not recognize it from any of my seeds....it may be a weed...

Two lovely broccoli heads were picked last night:

They smell delicious, I cannot wait until the hubs cooks them up in something yummy. There are at least four more forming in my brassica bed.

Walla Walla Onion Rings (Gluten Free)

In case you do not live around here, let me introduce you to a little Northwest delicacy known as Walla Walla Onions.

Walla Walla's growing at the homestead

They are known for their large size and sweetness. You can learn more about them here. (One of the things I enjoy about writing this blog is the excuse to look up these things.) Apparently, Walla Walla's are 90% water and they originated from an Italian immigrant that landed in the Walla Walla Valley of Southeast Washington.

This is the second year I have tried to grow them, and this year was a success!  Although I think I need to mulch them much more than I have been, I only had six or so survive the winter.  These were planted last Fall in my raised beds and were covered with leaf mulch.

The lovely sweet things

The Hubs was planning to grill some locally produced ribs we picked up on sale at our neighborhood New Seasons, and I thought we ought to try frying up some onion rings to accompany them. We used a gluten free breading mix of equal parts tapioca flour, potato starch and rice flour.  Then added garlic powder, chili powder, thyme and black pepper to taste.

They fried up nicely in our cast iron skillet on the new gas stovetop.

We only fried one of them, as it was difficult even for the two of us to eat the entire plate....but we tried our best, honest.

So good.

July Garden

Wow, the last two weeks have flown by. I am not sure what happened, but it is July already!

The homestead is shaping up for summer production:

Summer squash are already 4" high.  The cucumbers are starting to grow on their bamboo trellis.  The potato's are huge and spilling over their bin.  The broccoli, brussel sprouts and cabbage are thriving.  Second seeding of carrots and beets are coming up.  The tomato's are growing, but slowly.  I have a small black bug issue, more on that later.

The hugelkultur is finally starting to look like I planted something.  Although I have some carrots and beets growing in the lawn....results of the multiple chicken marauding adventures.

There are beets, carrots, kale, arugula, chard and a few volunteer squash and ground cherry tomato's growing haphazardly... I just planted three more kinds of kale and chard and installed the soaker hose.

Moved the netting over the blueberries.
Because of this:

The birds have been munching on all the berries as they ripen!  But not anymore.

The herb garden is thriving finally.  The borage is attracting pollinators as expected.  Chamomile, sage, oregano, fenugreek and calendula are growing nicely.

My pear tree is doing well, there are about a dozen little pears growing.  Which is a lot less than what started....I am still not sure what happened to them.  Squirrels?

The girls enjoyed all the weeds I threw over into their run. Everyone of them kept their eye on me today waiting to see if I threw them any raspberries.  Which of course I did, along with a few unlucky earth worms.

The raspberries are going nuts.  I have collected over eighteen pints of them so far, and there are SO MANY still ripening every day.  My mom is coming over tomorrow to pick some more!

Now We're Cookin' with Gas

Now this is more like it:

Four burners, baby.  All going at once.

Life is good.

Made strawberry and raspberry jam last week on my new four burner gas cooktop.  Raspberries were picked the same day from our garden.

I make jam without pectin and with honey in lieu of sugar. I generally follow the way that Rachel at Dog Island Farm makes her preserves.  But instead of 2 parts fruit to 1 part sugar, I use 2 parts fruit to 1/2 part honey. Just boil the fruit and honey (add lemon juice if needed) until the foam goes away and it thickens to about the consistency of maple syrup at room temperature. Then pour into sterilized jars, wipe the rim clean, screw on the lid and can in a boiling water bath for ten to twelve minutes.

June Harvest

The berries in our garden are coming on with gusto!

Berries and eggs in the June garden

This was what I picked last night. There were more raspberries out there but I was stung by a honeybee while I was moving some raspberry canes around to I get at berries in the middle of the patch. I have not been stung by a bee since I was a teenager, and at first I thought a thorn had stuck me a little deeper than usual. It was a honeybee and she just happened to be where I placed my hand, poor girl.

FYI, the baking soda paste sting remedy really works, in minutes it had pulled all the venom out. There is a little redness and a bruise sensation but other than that my hand feels fine.